If you want to start something on startup, then create a file /etc/profile.d/10-runthing.sh with contents like:

if [ "$(tty)" = "/dev/tty1" ]; then THINGfi

Replace THING with the command to run. You could run tmux so you never forget. You could compile DOSBox so it runs on the framebuffer and you appear to have a DOS computer, which is why I wanted to do this.